Tall, Dark & Fangsome

by Michelle Rowen

  “When I sink my fangs in your neck and suck the life out of you? I’m actually looking forward to it.”

  His smile reappeared at my false bravado. “Sure you are.”

  “I am. I mean, how many vampires can say they were able to chomp on Gideon Chase with his full permission? I should have promotional postcards made up, or something.”

  He pressed his lips together for a moment. “I do have some concerns.”

  “The fact that I have to keep my fangs in your neck for a few minutes before I can properly vampify you? Is there a little fear creeping in at the sides, Gideon?”

  “No. It’s actually the fact that you’ve only consumed the blood of two master vampires. My research leads me to believe that might not be enough to gain enough power to fully heal me.”

  I nodded. “Well, in that case, you can feel free to find someone else for the job.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine, but I do feel some anxiety.”

  “Gideon Chase, anxious? Wherever is my camera?”

  He rose from his chair to pull the blinds away from the window. He was quite an imposing man, even without taking his reputation into account. Beautiful women from around the world had allegedly flocked for the chance to spend time with him in the past, and it hadn’t only been because he was a billionaire.

  Flocked.

  He turned and moved toward me.

  I took a step backward.

  “I have something for you,” he said.

  I took another step back until I bumped up against the door.

  He held up a hand. “Don’t panic. It’s something nonthreatening, I promise.”

  “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

  He moved toward the table next to his king-sized bed to grab a small fabric bag, which he brought over to me. “A gift for you.”

  I hesitated, then took it from him. I opened it up to find a pair of earrings inside. Diamond earrings. Big diamond earrings.

  “What is this?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “They’re diamond earrings.”

  “I can see that. But why are you giving them to me?”

  “As a show of appreciation for everything you’ve endured so far. I know it hasn’t been easy for you. I can be a bit of a—”

  “Insanely evil villain?” I finished.

  “I was going for ‘pain in the ass,’ but you can finish the sentence any way you like.” A smile that I was quite sure had melted the panties off many a socialite in the past spread across his handsome features.

  “I can’t accept them.” With a twinge of regret—I mean, come on, diamond earrings!—I gave them back to him.

  He nodded. “Then I’ll have to find something else you can’t turn down so easily, won’t I?”

  There was a buzzing sound and Gideon fished into the pocket of his pants to draw out a BlackBerry. He glanced at the screen and then put it away again.

  My focus had narrowed on the device. I wondered if the names and phone numbers of his contacts were in it. That would be very helpful.

  “So, Sarah, did you have a good time at the nightclub tonight with George and Amy?” Gideon asked.

  A shiver went down my spine. Had a spy just reported in regarding my whereabouts for the evening? And if so, what else had been observed? My stomach churned thinking that Thierry and I had been spotted together. Gideon was being all gift-giving and amiable right now, but I knew better than to push him.

  “I had a great time,” I replied. “Amy set me up on a blind date. But don’t go getting all jealous. He’s in human resources. And it’s very possible he prefers men.”

  “How is the Red Devil?” he asked evenly. “He stopped you from giving in to your nightwalker instincts, right?”

  I spy with my little eye… somebody that is screwed.

  “He’s just peachy.” I touched my chain. “Obviously when trying to keep her dark side at bay, a lady should never leave home without her accessories, should she?”

  “Why is he here?”

  “He’s not much of a talker.”

  “What does he look like?”

  I chewed my bottom lip. “He was wearing a mask. Plus, I was dealing with a little case of bloodlust at the time, so my vision was a tad fuzzy. He’s tall, that’s all I know.”

  “You need to be very careful around him.”

  That surprised me. “Around him? This advice coming from the man who bankrolls the wooden stake carriers of America?”

  “If this is the true Red Devil, then he is very dangerous. Very unpredictable. I know a great deal about him, enough to know he’s a threat to anyone who crosses his path.”

  “So am I when I’m not wearing my chain.”

  “It’s different. The Red Devil, whoever he really is, has killed many over his long lifetime—both hunters and vampires. It would have been safer for everyone if he’d stayed away.” He shook his head at my skeptical look. “I know you see hunters, including me, as evil, but I think you know very well that it’s not always the case. There are many hunters who only want to keep the world safe from evil predators.”

  “The Red Devil is not an evil predator,” I said firmly.

  “Are you sure about that?” He walked to the other side of the room to look out at the view past the balcony. His newly perfected reflection showed up in the glass door.

  I shifted my feet but didn’t answer him. I really didn’t know the Red Devil from Adam, as the saying went. All I knew was that Thierry trusted him.

  Thierry. If he knew I was having a friendly convo with Gideon in his hotel room, all alone, he’d probably have a conniption.

  “I do have something else for you,” Gideon said. “I wasn’t going to mention it yet, but since you didn’t like my earrings…”

  “I won’t like anything else you got off the Shopping Network, either. Just an FYI.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. It’s nothing really. Only the grimoire of the witch who cursed you. The book in which she recorded all of her spells, including the one she used on you.”

  All the breath left me in a rush. That was the last thing I had expected him to say. “The witch you killed, you mean.”

  “She was evil,” he said firmly.

  “And it’s great that you’ve appointed yourself judge, jury, and executioner.”

  “You’re entitled to your opinion. But it doesn’t change the fact that I have her magic book. And in it is the incantation to remove that pesky little curse of yours.”

  My heartbeat quickened. “You’re kidding me.”

  He shook his head. “Not kidding.”

  “Where is it?” I scanned the room.

  “Somewhere safe. And you can have it for giving me something in return.”

  I eyed him with equal parts skepticism and hope. “What do you want?”

  “The Red Devil.”

  My stomach did a backflip worthy of an Olympic gymnast. “What do you want with him?”

  “You’re not that naïve, Sarah.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “You obviously overestimate me.”

  “I want to slay him. I want to stop him from doing any harm to others now that he’s chosen to return to the public eye.”

  “So the only way you’ll give me the grimoire is if I help you kill the Red Devil?” I wanted to make sure I understood him properly.

  “That’s right.”

  My small piece of shiny hope flittered away. “Don’t you have more important things to be thinking about right now?”

  He let out a long, shaky sigh. “Actually, I could use the distraction. I need a new challenge to concentrate on. To defeat the Red Devil—a vampire whose reputation others have raised to mythic proportions—would be my greatest accomplishment.” He blinked. “Other than that demon in Vegas, of course. As you can probably imagine, it’s not exactly a memory I currently cherish.”

  The grimoire. The answer to all of my nightwalker problems. “I don’t know, Gideon—”

  “Damn.” He groaned, then sta
ggered back a few feet and clutched at his face. “Why did I have to mention it?”

  Before I could say anything else, he cried out and fell to his knees on the plush carpet of the suite. It was the hellfire. Gideon convulsed in pain as he fought against the flames that couldn’t be seen, only felt.

  I stood, frozen in place, feeling sick as I watched him suffer. I pressed up against the door, wanting to leave, but finding it difficult to move.

  “What should I do?” I asked.

  “Nothing.” His voice caught as a shudder went through him. His teeth were gritted. I was willing to bet my bottom dollar that nobody had ever seen Gideon like this before. So weak and needy and pathetic. The thought didn’t make me feel the least bit better.

  “Maybe I can call a doctor—” I offered lamely.

  He looked up at me with glassy eyes. “I don’t want you to see me like this.” When I didn’t budge, he raised his voice. “Leave me! Now!”

  “Fine with me.” I turned around, opened the door, and left Gideon alone to his suffering and solitude.

  I didn’t care if he was in pain. This was the man who held my life in his hands and was forcing me to do what he wanted.

  I hated him.

  And, even more than that, I hated the small part of me that didn’t hate him. It was very inconvenient.

  Chapter 4

  Maybe I should have taken the diamond earrings after all.

  No. I pushed the thought away. In fact, I tried very hard to push away all my thoughts about Gideon, his pain, his plans, and his new scar-free but still evil face. My thoughts, however, had other plans as they continued to churn through my tired cranium.

  I left the hotel and walked quickly down the sidewalk, my arms crossed tightly over my chest. I wanted to call Thierry and go see him, but I couldn’t. Which sucked. Besides, I really didn’t want him to find out that I was seeing Gideon on a regular basis behind his back.

  I’d fully planned on tonight being the last time I came to his hotel like an obedient Girl Scout, but now he’d presented me with something I couldn’t simply forget even if I wanted to.

  The grimoire. Did he really have it or was he just messing with me?

  Was the Red Devil really as bad as Gideon suggested? I mean, I had figured he didn’t go around giving people fashion advice or handing out gift certificates. He was an immortal vigilante, after all. It was possible that he’d done some super-nasty things in his life to achieve his reputation—things that I might even consider evil.

  But was that enough proof to stick an apple in his mouth and offer up his head on a platter just so I could get what I wanted?

  I felt sick at the thought. I wished I could be a little more heartless. Just a smidge. Nice girls don’t get the corner office, after all. They get trampled on. And, well, cursed.

  Speaking of heads-on-platters, I sensed something then. It was strange. I didn’t actually hear any footsteps and I didn’t see anyone, but on a deeper kind of vampire-sense level I felt that someone was following me. The sensation of ants doing a conga line down my arms was a tipoff.

  And I had a funny feeling I knew who it was.

  “I figured you’d be better at the stalking thing,” I said a little shakily to the silence as I approached the nearest bus stop. There was no one else around. “But you’re definitely no ninja, are you?”

  “I guess I’m a bit rusty.” The Red Devil’s voice sounded strange, as if he was trying to make it sound lower and raspier than it really was. Maybe he had a cold.

  Did vampires get colds? I made a mental note to Google that later.

  I didn’t turn to look at him. I was too busy feeling a tug-of-war of emotions. On one side I was wary of him after what Gideon said. On the other side I was still embarrassed about what had happened earlier with the fledgling.

  Bottom line, the night had only reminded me how terrible my curse was and how desperately I wanted it to be ancient history.

  If the Red Devil hadn’t stopped me earlier—

  A shudder ran through me at the thought.

  “Who did you just visit?” he asked.

  Uh oh. I’d forgotten about my new bodyguard when I’d casually sauntered into the lair of the vampire hunter.

  “My aunt,” I said quickly. “She’s in town for a few days.”

  “You’re lying. Tell me who you saw.”

  The jury was out on whether this guy was bad news or not, but he wasn’t making a great second impression on me. “None of your business.”

  “Your safety is my business.”

  “Thierry must be paying you very well.”

  He didn’t say anything for a moment. “Is Gideon staying here?”

  Busted. The Red Devil was bossy, but insightful. I made a mental note.

  I licked my dry lips nervously. I still didn’t want to turn my head and meet his masked face. “Look, I know I shouldn’t be here. I know it’s dangerous and whatever. But it’s not as bad as you think. He wanted me to pick something up for him and I did. That’s all.”

  “You’ve done this before tonight as well?”

  “A couple of times.” I hesitated. “But there’s no reason you need to tell Thierry about this. Or about what happened in the alley earlier. I don’t want him to be worried.”

  “You keep a lot of secrets from him, do you?” His voice was cold.

  I swallowed. “Unfortunately, I have to.”

  “I see.”

  “No, you don’t. You don’t know him. He’d take this totally the wrong way.”

  There was no reply.

  I chanced a look over my shoulder. There was no one there anymore.

  Leaving right in the middle of an awkward, unfriendly conversation? That was rather rude.

  Who was that masked vamp, anyhow? I wondered as I waited at the bus stop. I planned to catch a ride back home to the small house George and I shared, even though I had yet to give him any rent money.

  I wondered where the Red Devil had been hiding out for a hundred years. What made him stop helping people? What made him return? Thierry wouldn’t tell me anything, but I was burning with curiosity.

  Would he tell Thierry that he’d seen me leaving Gideon’s hotel? I sure hoped not. I’d tell Thierry the next time I saw him. Get it out in the open and deal with his reaction then.

  I’d also tell him about Gideon’s bargain—the Red Devil for the grimoire. I’d originally wanted to wait until my issues with Gideon had been resolved before I dealt with the curse, but now I saw that there was no time to waste. I had to de-curse myself or somebody was going to get hurt. It was only a matter of time.

  But was his nausea-inducing deal the only way to save myself? Had I completely painted myself into a corner when it came to dealing with my thirsty nightwalker?

  My life had become one big sensible-footwear-owning question mark.

  George wasn’t home when I arrived, but someone else was.

  “Twice in one night?” I said. “I’m a lucky girl.”

  Thierry was waiting for me inside the little house. Silently. In the dark. You know, like a regular, everyday boyfriend.

  I moved toward him for a kiss, but stopped in my tracks when the look on his face registered with me. He rarely showed any emotion. I’d trained myself to read him pretty well, but even I ran into difficulties when he got all expressionless.

  He wasn’t expressionless at the moment. He looked angry.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

  Oh, damn. The Red Devil was a total gossip ghoul.

  Maybe he had a blog and a Facebook page, too.

  “About what?” I decided to play coy even though I knew it was pointless.

  “You’ve been seeing Gideon, but haven’t mentioned it to me. I was under the impression you hadn’t seen him since that first night. That you didn’t have to see him again until the full moon.”

  I threw my purse and coat onto the sofa, trying to seem at ease when I felt anything but. “I have to see him. If I don’t do wh
at he says then he might go all homicidal and kill everyone like he threatened to, remember?”

  “So he’s forcing you to come to his hotel against your will?”

  “No, he’s not exactly forcing me.” Damn, this was complicated. And it was all my fault. “He actually asks politely. It’s not a big deal.”

  “If it wasn’t a big deal you would have told me about it.”

  “In the three or four minutes we have together these days?”

  “The reason we can’t be together at the moment is his threats. Or do you forget that small detail?”

  “I don’t forget it for a moment.”

  He shook his head. “Gideon is well known for his ability to charm others. Don’t let him make you believe he is anything other than a killer.”

  “I haven’t forgotten that.”

  “You haven’t?” His brow furrowed and his hard expression finally softened. “I know you have a great capacity for compassion, Sarah. Don’t let that get in the way of your better judgment.”

  “It’s not. I wish the Red Devil hadn’t told you.”

  “I’m glad he did.” He drew closer to me and stroked his cool hand against my flushed cheek. “He told me about what happened with the fledgling as well.”

  I cringed. “That I went insane and almost tore her throat out?”

  He shook his head. “That you tried to help her.”

  “And then I tried to tear her throat out.” I hugged him tightly and inhaled the light, spicy scent of his familiar cologne.

  “But you didn’t.”

  “Only thanks to Red. Whoever he is.” I looked up at him. “Are you going to tell me more about him?”

  “Perhaps he will remain as much a secret as your meetings with Gideon Chase have been.” There was a strange edge to his words.

  I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t tell me for one moment that that’s jealousy I hear.”

  He leveled his gray gaze with my own. “I know all too well that you have a soft spot for hunters you feel you might be able to redeem.”

  I tensed in his arms. “Gideon isn’t redeemable.”

  “And you mustn’t ever forget that.” He brushed his mouth against mine in a kiss that helped me stop thinking about all of my problems for a moment.